Subscribe

January 2009

Last week, on Martin Luther King Day, Amy and I watched the film, Milk, about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California (back in 1978). When we got to the Egyptian Theatre, Amy asked for two tickets to see "M-I-L-K", spelling out Milk's name. We laughed about this presumed priming effect (from it being MLK day), but it also primed my synchronicity radar as we headed in to see the movie.

Somewhere in Des Moines or San Antonio there's a young gay person who all of a sudden realizes that she or he is gay, knows that if the parents find out they'dl be tossed out of the house, the classmates would taunt the child, and the Anita Bryant's and John Briggs' are doing their bit on TV. And that child has several options: staying in the closet, suicide. And then one day that child might open up a paper that says "Homosexual elected in San Francisco" and there are two new options: the option is to go to California, or stay in San Antonio and fight. Two days after I was elected I got a phone call and the voice was quite young. It was from Altoona, Pennsylvania. And the person said "Thanks". And you've got to elect gay people, so that that young child and the thousands and thousands like that child know that there is hope for a better world, there is hope for a better tomorrow. Without hope, not only gays, but those blacks, and the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's ... without hope the us's give up. I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you, and you, and you have got to give them hope.

I really find this reference to us's positively inspiring, reflecting wisdom I've gleaned from other sources, perhaps most notably Oriah Mountain Dreamer, who suggests that we can either try to identify and empathize with others, or seek to
differentiate others from ourselves; essentially choosing to view
others as "us" or "them".

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With
this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of
hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our
nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be
able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one
day.

While Milk makes explicit references to the civil rights of blacks in his speech, as far as I can tell, MLK never made any explicit references to the civil rights of gays (much less lesbians, bisexuals or transgenders/transsexuals). Of course, they were from different eras - Milk was able to figuratively stand on MLK's shoulders in his crusade to win full equality for LGBT people.

Black people do not have the option of hiding their race in the closet, while LGBT people do, but the perpetration of shame or the withholding of rights based on sexual preference is no more justifiable than that based on race. And if "we're only as sick as our secrets", discrimination based on sexual preference may be even more insidious. Milk urged LGBT people to come out of their closet(s):

We will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets ... We are
coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming
out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of
silence, so I'm going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about
it. You must come out. Come out to your parents, your relatives

The newly inaugurated president, Barack Obama, is the offspring of an interracial marriage - an institution or practice that was illegal in some states at the time of MLK's speech. The right of states to ban interracial marriages was in effect until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against such laws in the Loving v. Virginia case in 1967. And yet, despite his interracial marriage ancestry, Obama claims he is opposed to legalizing same-sex marriages (although, according to a recent San Francisco Chronicle article on "Gays, lesbians hopeful despite inaugural pastor", he supports the extension of full rights to same-sex civil unions, and opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages).

Unlike some critics, I was inspired by Obama's inauguration speech - from its inclusive opening of "My fellow citizens" (not restricting his remarks to his fellow Americans), through his highlighting of the crises we face, and the "new era of responsibility" we must embark on in order to address these challenges and remake America. However, having just seen Milk the preceding day, I cringed when he got to this paragraph:

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has
come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our
enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that
precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to
generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and
all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

How can he promote this "God-given" promise that "all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness" and yet oppose the legalization of same-sex marriages? Does this opposition not deny LGBT people their "full measure of happiness"? I don't know if opposition to same-sex marriage under the guise of "defending" marriage is childish, but I do believe that as we, as a nation, mature in our perceptions and judgments about homosexuality (and marriage), we will come around to supporting this civil right that has been denied to a persecuted group in our society.

I was - and am - excited and hopeful about the election of Barack Obama. And yet, that same day, voters in California voted to approve Proposition 8, adding an article to the state Constitution stating

Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California

and thereby striking down any municipal laws legalizing same-sex marriages.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race,
or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for
all.

Freedom and justice for all ... except, of course, for homosexuals who want to marry.

If Harvey Milk were alive today, and were to give his Give Them Hope speech today, I suspect he would amend it to include Rick Warren along with Anita Bryant and John Briggs - who had actively campaigned in support of Proposition 6 in 1978, the so-called Briggs Initiative, that would have banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California's public schools. Fortunately, that measure failed, and while Milk is no longer with us - assassinated by a fellow (or formerly fellow) city supervisor - anti-gay forces are alive and well, in California and elsewhere.

Although there were many other striking and/or synchronistic aspects to the movie, I'll finish off noting that the person who came to a podium at San Francisco City Hall to announce the assassination of Harvey Milk - and then-mayor George Moscone - was then-city supervisor Dianne Feinstein ... who was also at a podium during Tuesday's inauguration, as the master of ceremonies. I'd earlier written about ignorance, incendiaries, ironies and inspiration in the 2008 presidential campaign, and my concern that the incendiary invectives uttered by McCain supporters might increase the risk of assassination for Obama. I was relieved that there was no replay of the last time I'd seen Feinstein on the big screen (having seen Milk the day before the inauguration).

I have a difficult time believing that a leader who could compose and deliver an inspiring message of moving toward a more perfect union could really
oppose same-sex marriage. However, given the range of risks and challenges faced by Obama (and the rest of us's), it may be a while - perhaps another generation - before any
public leader at that level can come out publicly in full support of full civil
rights for all people.

Despite over 16 months having elapsed since the PRP injection, I was still feeling pain after any kind of even moderate exertion, e.g., giving my wife a neck massage while sitting together on the couch. Although the pain was relatively minor, it was still recurring regularly (I like to give Amy neck massages), at a time when I had hoped that everything would finally be back to normal.

I was supposed to return to the Menlo Sports Medicine clinic for a 12-month followup visit, but due to a job change, I hadn't been in the Bay area since last January. Amy had mentioned the ongoing lack of full resolution to a local orthopedic surgeon who was treating my son's broken knee in July, who suggested we may want to consider surgery. Around that time, I had a paper accepted to the CSCW 2008 conference in San Diego (held in November), so I decided I'd stop off in San Francisco on my return to visit Dr. Mishra and see what he had to say.

After describing the persisting symptoms to Dr. Mishra, he examined my elbow, performed a few tests, and asked me where exactly the pain was located. The tests revealed that my grip strength was holding steady at 135 psi, with a pain level of [at most] 1 out of 10 (compared with a pre-injection grip strength of 65 with pain level 5), my wrist extension was a full 5 out of 5 with a pain level less than 1 (vs. pre-injection levels of 4 / 5 and a pain level of 9), and palpation - level of tenderness in my elbow - had decreased from 8 or 9 down to 1. I pointed to the the outer part of my forearm, about an inch or two
below the elbow, as the area with the pain. When he asked whether there was any pain in the elbow
itself, I realized that there was none (doh!).

Dr. Mishra told me that however long a joint has been in a state of injury or disrepair, it typically takes twice as long - after [successful] treatment - for it, and the surrounding area, to fully heal. This is, in part, due to atrophy in the affiliated muscles that occurs after long periods of reduced use or disuse. Given that my elbow was in a compromised state for a large portion of the nearly 3 years prior to the injection, it could take 5-6 years for the elbow - and the upper forearm - to fully return to normal :-(

Despite this rather sobering news, he told me he considered me a "poster child" for PRP treatments for the elbow. My elbow had been in the worst shape of any person he's yet treated solely with PRP; typically, he would have combined the PRP injection with surgery for someone who had suffered so long. The progress I've made thus far has been very encouraging to him, which offers further encouragement to me, and he thinks that it likely that I - or, at least, my elbow - will eventually return to normal.

We then talked about the theraband exercises he'd prescribed, I admitted I'd not been very diligent in doing them (probably around once every several weeks, rather than several times per week). I also told him that the exercises often triggered elbow pain (and pain in the upper forearm), and so he asked me to show him how I was performing them. He noted that I was going overboard in the exercises - bending at the elbow rather than the wrist, and thus placing unnecessary (and counteproductive) stress on the elbow joint. He said this was a common misapplication of the exercises, and after showing me how to do them correctly - bending slowly at the wrist - I suggested that maybe I could create and post a video of the right (and wrong) ways.

As I note in the video narration, I'm hoping that this public posting of the video will both help others perform the exercises correctly, and provide additional motivation for me to perform them more regularly. And hopefully, sometime in the next few years, I'll be able to post yet another update, reporting that my elbow has completely healed.